Canada to lease Russian-made helicopters: MacKay

Finally! Too bad they couldn't have gotten off their asses and done this, oh say, 2 years ago when they got into power. That's the problem with the Conservatives US blinders...it makes it impossible for them to examine other options.

Yeah, actually they did. They bought G-Wagens, M-177s, Nyalas and lots of other goodies for Afghanistan. After 9/11, the budget jumped spectacularly. If they were still in office, their budget was roughly the same as Harper has now. Hmmm, I thought Harper was pro-defence, and yet his annual defence spending increases were the same as Martin had projected...

Seeing as how Harper's predecessors (PCs) were the dumbasses who sold the Chinooks in the first place, they have nothing to brag about...bitch all you want about the Liberals cutting on defence, but until 9/11, nobody gave a damn about them.

Both sides made promises and reneged on them. Harper's followed the trend by promising armed icebreakers capable of year round operations in the Arctic for 'patrol ships' that can operate for a month or two longer than our existing frigates. Yeah, that's gonna help us patrol the Arctic alright...